飯

跑完步後趟在星空下拉筋，回到家裡，餓到不行，沒有把手上的泥土洗得很乾淨，就開始煮飯。
就在這個‘我很骯髒’的念頭剛剛要浮出來的時候，我想起了這個暑假在日本農村裡婆婆們煮給我們吃的飯，一對每天和土壤接觸的手煮出來的飯，或許會使飯更有一種土地的味道。
希望我明天不會肚子疼吧。

From Scotland

Just finished watching 'Scotland's Music with Phil Cunningham, 4. Heaven and Earth' on BBC iplayer.

I'm not really a tearful person, but the music surely welled up my eyes.

I cannot imagine the power it would have on me if I were to hear music being played in front of the cold unpredictable seas, with magnificent cliffs as the backdrop, nature overwhelming my every senses to the point that I cannot resist and let it run through my body.

Perhaps this is Scotland, the unforgivingly chilling wind rolling through the highlands, carrying with it the sound of distant villages, far out shores and a smell of vast grasslands that becomes a passing memory the moment you try to touch it.

Countless years flashed before my eyes, like beautiful blossoms in Spring, of fluttering birds beneath the summer sky.

The seasons change and I remain, forever myself truly, forever yours too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA2TL5kMRqI

Battle of the Ancients and Moderns

I have always been torn between the options of keeping things stagnant, preserving the livelihood of a culture and that of boldly adopting advancements in civilisation that bring about modern comforts and ideologies.

I deliberately choose not to use the word conservation and progress because I have been told repeatedly by many people that conservation may sometime well be progress (e.g. preserving traditions that provides stronger ties within a community) and personally, I have not figured out what big words such as 'conservation', 'revitalisation' and 'progress' means to our (yet another big word) 'civilisation'.

Hopefully by the time I finish this essay, I will have more answers or more unanswered question.

God, I love the feeling of self research, you slack off all day, start your boring reading and suddenly come across materials from the seventeenth century that addresses historical issues that is relevant to our contemporary world.

Here's the essay title:

6. Explain what you understand by the 'Battle of the Ancients and Moderns' and its significance for architecture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

How does it relate to our contemporary world? I don't know about the architectural side yet, but the Battle of the Ancients and the Moderns started as a philosophical and literary debate and gradually branched off to other areas.

Do we hold the traditional study of classical antiquity with high esteem or do we disregard the past and embrace a new age of scientific enquiry?

'What debate? How does it relate to our times?' You may ask.

First thing that came to my mind was Dolly, the first cloned sheep. Do we champion age old morals of not trying to play 'God' and or do we acknowledge the wondrous scientific progress brought to mankind?

I'm still torn between the two, but in a good puzzled way.

Jamie Cullum has a blog!

As it turns out, my favourite live jazz artist of all times, Jamie Cullum (I don't know a lot and I narrowly missed his live concert when he was in Hong Kong) has a blog!

Not only does he write witty love songs, mixing elements of pop, rock, hip hop, electronic, blues and reborns it as jazz, he recently went for a bike ride in the city.

"...As it turned out, our mayor Boris Johnson had closed down a huge part of central London to enable 50,000 cyclists to take to the streets without a car in sight. The route ran from Buckingham Palace, along the Victoria Embankment to St Pauls, to the Tower of London and back again...

...Dressed in all it's finery, with no Range Rovers to negotiate, the city revealed itself as a beautiful old friend. I was a tourist again in my own city."

After two thefts, it's about time I get my new bike and bring it up to the third floor every day, I love the feeling of being a tourist in one's own city. People running in the morning Meadows, the winds howling, rain drops on hoddies, grey skies and a corridor that smells like piss.

I'm back in Edinburgh.

《惘然記》

看了幾篇張愛玲的小故事，有些是在茫茫人海中相遇，相愛，但不能愛的無奈；有些是相遇，相愛，後來不愛的無奈。

愛不到的愛往往蓋著恨的面紗，只能在寂靜無人的偶然情況下，小心的把它拿開，然後悄沒聲的把它放回，每一次都希望下一次再拿起的時候它會自己碎掉，落到臉上也不會再痛。

我，當然只是在寫閱後感啦。

A few words before leaving

I'm about to return to Edinburgh, and no I am not going to say goodbye to anything or anyone in particular, because they know who they are and I'm not good at saying goodbyes to people who I have just made a brief encounter with and am absolutely lost for words when it comes to people who mean a lot to me.

So goodbye to whoever feels my goodbye.

Hong Kong summer was for me, an overseas student in Edinburgh, a wee bit too hot. So one of the favourite spots for me became the swimming pool downstairs. I had a thought the other day when I was trying to feel the feeling of my hands in the water, not trying to use my hand to grab hold on to anything in particular, but trying to stay still and feel the loss of sensation on my hands because there was no differentiation between one object to another under water.

This is what I was thinking:

I thought of public swimming pools (or fountains or simply a pool of water without any 'No Swimming' signs) on either sides of the Victoria Harbour front. After entering the Tsim Shai Tsui public swimming pool and jumping into the pool, you find yourself on lane 5 with the end of the "T" shape directly pointing towards the Bank of China building. After a few laps of the Bank of China lane, you rest on the ledge of the pool, let your body rise and fall with the ripples of somebody else diving from a board with the Cultural Centre as his background while you gaze over the poolside to absorb the harbour view. Ships negotiating their way through the busy water traffic, the sound of Star Ferry making her brief stop in the distance, glittering sparkles of sunlight dancing on the sea while water drips off the tip of your hair and you wonder, 'when will I ever get to swim across the Victoria Harbour again just like our grandfathers once did.'

Here's a picture of people using the benches in the new Central Star Ferry.

The bench and the glass windows send four messages:

1. Yay! I'm at the famous Central Star Ferry and I can see the harbour view.

2. Where's the natural wind?

3. If I want to sit, I can't see it anymore!

4. If I want to get a closer view of the sea, I have to make my way around people sitting on the benches.

重拾舊愛

小學時候，總會和媽媽比賽看書，看誰先看完。

到了中學，常常在備考的時候躲進洗手間看金庸，一坐不知日夜更替。

大學不在香港的家住，房間依然書一堆，都只是為寫論文，但卻鮮有把她們認真讀完。

生命中有很少的東西可以讓我感動到全身一震，彷彿整個身體都被打開了，沒有一點反抗的餘地。

從天而降的《野火集》讓我在彩虹帶來的暴雨中找到原來一直在深處未忘的感覺。

A Cute Devil

This little angel had a tough afternoon dodging the fangs of a dog set loose by the neighbours, being a stray cat all her life, with half of her right ear bitten off, she's quite used to big bullies and perfected the skill of fooling dumb dogs by hooping back and forth one tiny hole while the dog had to run up, down and around the slope to get to the other side of the hole.

Nonetheless, she was quite breathless when the dog owner finally got a hold of that piece of hyperactive saliva dripper. After the ordeal was over, I quietly stretched my legs beside her under a tree and gave her gentle strokes in order to calm her down. Without a warning, the little devil leaped onto my hand and gave me a few scratches.

The claws didn't go deep, so it wasn't very painful, but as I look at the scratch marks on my hand, I can't help but think that even if I knew what was coming, I would still gladly let her sink her claws onto my hand. How can you say no to dangerously beautiful things afterall?

左右互搏系列一

左右互搏系列一

在西北的旅途上聽了劉若英的《後來》很多遍。

很想為我的過去道歉，傷了她人的心。

我不能說我沒有任何的後悔，但更甚的或許是說不出的懷念。

年少時，很多的東西都沒想透，也說不清。

現在可以做的就是默默送上祝福，希望遠方的妳想起的是年少無知時那天真的臉孔。

我，會繼續天真下去的。

俗語有云：「真小人，偽君子。」

用現代的話講，《公主復仇記》裏面有說：「男人有兩種，一種是仆街，一種是扮皇子的仆街。」

而我就這樣輕描淡寫的原諒了自己。

二零零九年八月二十七號甘肅路上

左右互搏系列

左右互搏系列

人越大，腦筋痴了越多線，發現自己的衣服和世界一樣不只是黑和白。

左腦的理智跟右腦的浪漫常常打仗，心裏面也找不到一個肯定的答案，沒有答案的問題像搞研究一樣，一篇論文嘗試回答問題後卻往往在結尾提出更多的問題。從而產生更多更多更多的問題。

左右互搏系列裡想寫的可能是一些毋寧兩何的事情，也可以是自我瞭解，自我反省的過程，更有可能的是自打嘴巴的文章。

講到底，只是找一個藉口，為自己的胡說八道，留下一點點胡思亂想的記憶。

Thoughts before another journey

Familiar streets dotted with fading memories,

revisiting songs forgotten,

trying to put a chapter to end old stories but find no appropriate words to start anew.

I'm not ready to leave, but here I go again.

游水隨想

可以做一條無憂無求的小精蟲，也可以做一個忽忽痕的屎撈人。

路是人走出來的，屎是自己踩的。

狗屎路有一天都會變彩虹。

Unintentional Time Capsule

I just came back from a foreign land,

from a rice field with contemporary art to a city without much, if any, public art;
found myself sleeping in my old bed but in a new home;
had my first ever all nighter karaoke in Hong Kong with new friends right after a class reunion of seventy something friends I've known for more than 10 years;

I'm now sitting in front of a new room with the same monitor, same table, same chair, same keyboard, same speaker, same mouse, same standing light, but new room with finishings I have never seen in my life.

New height, new orientation, cars and birds singing from behind my head instead of to my right. Light penetrating from unfamiliar angles onto a furniture I've seen for 10 years but now seems all too alien.

People are prepared to get lost when they travel to new places, I was not prepared for myself to get lost in my own home.

As I continue to stumble around in this thing called 'home', I found a green ipod mini from 5 years ago and is once again trapped in a world of alien familiarity, of a reconstructed memory of long gone times, flashes of people who have stayed and who have gone.

A new Bose headphones that was lent and returned plugged into an old green ipod mini that was lost and found.

Please don't ask me what happened in that foriegn land, I am still living in one.

Off focus

Learnt something new recently.

Next time when you are at a vantage point where you can survey a massive cluster of trees or rice field or any natural plantation,

Sit down, relax, breathe in and breathe out in a calm pace. Slightly lower your eye lids and try not to focus on anything.

Give yourself a peaceful 3-10 minutes.

Then you will be able to see the entire greenery sway, mingle and dance in directions where only the wind can carry them.

有點迷失

一切原本看似正常的，都像得了病。

三年前如是，三年後亦是。

害怕。

害怕我又再被城市麻木的一天到來。

4/6/2009 Japan Trip Day 1 (Blue Note Tokyo)

Located right next to Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel, the hotel I stayed (which name I have already forgotten) at was built last year. It had a comfortable lobby with a very smart metal stand for you to put your bag on while you do your check in and check out at the reception.


First meal in Tokyo was a combination of sashimi combo and Shabu Shabu. There were altogether 5 hungry adults, so I could not take the risk of leisurely taking photos of the beef.

Blue Note Tokyo, it originated in Harlem, New York. However, this is a much cleaner, smoke free, less mystified and reserved Japanese version of the jazz club. Being a total outsider with regards to serious jazz. I only know that the main act was a famous jazz drummer who was turning 84. And he sure blew our minds off with his energy and creativity.


People talk about cultural shock in Japan, what comes to mind is the lack of English skills and different customs.Used to being in places where I cannot speak the local dialect, language difference did not pose a big threat to my system. My first feeling of culture shock struck me when I walked into the shower of my hotel room. What better (or worse) culture shock can there be when the most intimate and private act of the day had to be altered from a standing position in shower into a sitting position in showering. It actually makes sense to sit down when one showers, but it took some time to adjust to this culture.


And the all too famous toilet seat that washes your bottom after you finish your business.

My second culture shock hit me when I had to change into the Yukata (Japanese sleeping gown / summer dress). Again, culture shock infiltrating into the most intimate part of a person's daily habits.


Pseudo Zen garden outside Imperial Hotel. Do we have time to think about thinking within the setting of a metropolis?

情緒是不等人的

哥，我活得很好。

生命是美麗的。

為什麼要選擇死亡？

酩酊天使　

唱：張敬軒 

曲：Vincent Chow/蔡志浩　

詞：林若寧 編：Gary Tong　

監： Alvin leung

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG9wBRwqafw

長時間給一堆工作壓碎　  

讓細水將哀愁也沖去  

別要擔心我氣餒　

發掘閒來情趣  漸漸地淡化苦水   

難忘你我也要生活下來  

近況好如常地拼搏進取  

一開心可以喝醉　倦了一覺睡  

情緒便困進身體裡   

朋友你悄悄遠去化作遠方的天使  

仍間歇聽見你舊名字  

翻開這相簿至少哭一次  

你笑臉印滿相紙   

朋友再與你說說笑笑已經不可以  

而我要奮鬥每日如是  

一天的奔波也許不止  

活在你路過的小都市   

隨時間過去固執亦下調  

但有點無聊事叫我困擾  

初相識　跟你拍照  

但我黑了面  

還記住你說應該笑   

朋友你過去去過那個故居都空置  

人氣店永遠滿座無異  

將一些輕鬆笑話講一次  

帶有你每個影子   

難過　每一天都走過　生命是如此   

朋友你悄悄遠去化作遠方的天使  

仍間歇聽見你舊名字  

翻開這相簿至少哭一次  

你笑臉印滿相紙   

朋友再與你說說笑笑已經不可以  

而我要奮鬥每日如是  

珍惜的呼吸也許休止  

活著已是最好的心意   

I miss you I Miss you 

'What is art?'

I asked a Japanese villager, what was her favourite art piece in Echigo Tsumari 2006. And she asked me in return, 'What is art?'

She then took up two glass cup filled with water and said in Japanese, 'If you place these two cups on the table without interfering them. It is a normal ordinary object, but an artist might tilt it 45 degrees so they sit on the table on a weird angle, and you would call it art. Is this art? I don't know.'

It made me think about what art is.

'What is art?'

...is like asking, 'What is a good meal?'

A meal can be delicious in its own right, but it needs people to admire and enjoy the food. To me, art is what is meaningful and enjoyed by people at the time and will continue to be delicious to generations in the future. 

The early bird catches the worm

Frank Sinatra - In the wee small hours of the morning

In the wee small hours of the morning
While the whole wide world is fast asleep
You lie awake and think about the girl
And never ever think of counting sheep

When your lonely heart has learned its lesson
Youd be hers if only she would call
In the wee small hours of the morning
Thats the time you miss her most of all

閉關練功

不問世事，
希望可以修成正果吧。

等我。

愛自己

Hero - Mariah Carey

There's a hero if you look inside your heart
You don't have to be afraid of what you are.
There's an answer if you reach into your soul
and the sorrow that you know will melt away

And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.
yeah yeah

So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you'll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you.

It's a long road when you face the world alone;
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold.
You can find love if you search within your self
and the emptiness you felt will disappear.

And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.

So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you'll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you.

oh....Lord knows dreams are hard to follow,
But don't let anyone tear them away.
Just Hold on, there will be tomorrow,
In time you'll find the way

And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.

So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you'll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you
that a hero lies in ... you
mmmm that a hero lies in.....you.


還是愛自己比較簡單，比較安全。

靜

讓狂亂的我靜一靜，用平淡的心去感受身邊的一切。
是時候收拾自己，去做應該做的事情。

我輕輕的走一回啦。

若要人不知，除非己莫為。

我自己又算什麼？

累了，讓我逃進書海吧。

找自己

改，等，
亂，靜。

想，思，
忘，愛。

跑步跟尋找自己一樣，每一個人都懂，每一個人都會。
你沒有隊友，沒有指引，只有心中的一條路。
它是最簡單的運動，也是最難的運動。
你有一千個理由放棄，只有一個理由繼續，
就是要贏自己的過去。

是時後到外面走一走了。

Hope

Broken promises, empty skies,
Naked truths, bleeding hearts.
No black and whites,
just another grey patch that finds its answer,
when it has lost its colour.

We are human afterall.

中毒

下定決心。

千言萬語，盡在不言中。

不懂的藝術

做無人能懂的藝術是一件美麗的事，
因為我感覺像在和冥冥中的主宰對話。

無人能懂的事，作為不是人的妳，
妳懂嗎？

留白

History

Being a history major, I am trained to look into the patterns of the past and predict the future. It seems relatively easy to do this with world events, revolutions, wars, corrupted governments, failed policies, epidemics, art, architecture, literature...

...but when it comes to my own history, my own development, my own progression, my rationality is clouded in a heavy mist of uncertainties...

George Santayana once said, 'The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again".

I never thought I would come to this today, because if I did, I would have chosen a different path many years ago. Is this history repeating itself, or am I have a revolution with myself?

Regardless, I hear birds singing through the morning air and the music continues to loop.

When did we lose our child like ability to see the world?

Currelty doing my research on Hundertwasser House in Vienna.

I'm responsible for looking at societies' response to it's construction and development over all these years since it's finishing in 1986.

I came across this article and it made me wonder why art and architecture had to be imbued with all these complex ideologies in order to have depth and culture. When did we begin to feed ourselves with the notion that because it has many folds of complexity and implicit meanings, that is what makes it beautiful and deeply mysterious?

A child never thinks like that. The world is beautiful in its own right no matter the colour, form or subject matter. Here's the opening sentence to the article:

"I picked up my niece at Vienna International Airport wondering what I would do with her. She is 22 years old, on her first visit to Vienna, and isn't interested in anything. You probably have relatives like this."

Which made me think a lot about why adults struggle so hard to find interesting things to do with people a generation below them. (It's not just Macdonald's Happy Meal / a playground or a concert that serves a growing child's burst of imaginative creativity, is it?)

It also reminded me of a TED video on "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" that mw urged me to watch awhile ago.

The article ended with this sentence:

"Even my niece was drawn to this magical place, waking up in surprise from her sleepy life to discover that there was at least one museum she actually liked."

Is it time architects go back to basics and think about how our inner childs look at buildings of tomorrow?

My begging and Art HK09

Please please please, I beg HK make art more educational and integrate HK art and artists as part of the curriculum for all art classes in secondary schools. HK art and artists should also have at least a few mentions in Hong Kong history textbooks.


Art HK 09: Hong Kong International Art Fair Announces This Year's Exhibitor List

Hong Kong International Art Fair announced that 110 of the world’s leading galleries from 24 countries will exhibit at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) from 14-17 May (Preview and Vernissage 13 May).

New participants for 2009 include Tomio Koyama, White Cube, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE and Galleria Continua, as well as Lisson Gallery and Gagosian Gallery. Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor will both be present, alongside leading Asian artists such as Ai Weiwei, Cai Guo-Qiang and Jitish Kallat. This year, ART HK 09 is also pleased to introduce ART FUTURES, an initiative to enable galleries under five years old to showcase one or two emerging artists and to encourage a presence of fresh, exciting new work at the Fair.

In addition to being the leading platform for buying art in the region, ART HK provides a much needed focal point for the art world in Asia for networking and discourse between curators, artists, collectors and critics.

Asia Art Archive will present a series of thought-provoking programmes with some of the leading experts and practitioners in the field. Backroom Conversations will include panel discussions, talks and screenings that touch on a number of prevalent issues, and offer a first-hand look into the contemporary art world today. Speakers include: Vasif Kortun, Director of Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul; Frances Morris, Permanent Collections Curator, Tate Modern; and Uli Sigg, collector of Chinese contemporary art.

Guided Tours will be available in both English and Cantonese organised by Para/Site Art Space.

Whether you are a seasoned collector, thinking of buying for the first time, or just keen to be part of one of the most significant cultural events in the international art calendar, we look forward to welcoming you to ART HK 09.

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=29603

Why there will never be total equality between men and women

I'll keep this short and concise. The day we might be able to attain equality is when:

1) Men can get pregnant.

2) Men are not allowed to be topless / when women are allowed to be topless in public.

3) Women will open the door for men and it does not appear strange. (and the whole idea of being a gentleman for the ladies is discarded)

On a side note, you know how you always get people saying oh American English is for dumb people and they use simple words and phrases. That thought just came to me and then I realised why. Because traditionally, it began as a cultural melting pot. And you have people from all over the world with English as their second language. So the natural evolution of language will find its course along the most simplistic means. If you compare that to the evolution of British English which is used by native speakers for thousands of years, of course it has a much more complex system.

I bet somebody has found that out already, just that I've never read that article yet.

Why do people visit museums (6 theories)

Why museums have become our home from home

People are visiting our galleries and museums at a startling rate. Is it the cafés, the absence of swearing... maybe even the art?

Hugo Rifkind

Why do people go to museums? It's not easy to find out. Frankly, there's a lot of waffle. I've spent the past week in them, trotting up to people and saying: “According to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, museum and gallery attendance is rocketing in Britain. Why are you here?” Everybody is polite, because people always are in museums and galleries, but nobody really knows. “I was interested in the exhibition,” they might say, not all that helpfully. Or, “the kids like it”. It's hard, at first, to see the thread. People go for all sorts of reasons. Or so they think.

A friend and I, for example, once went to the Saatchi Gallery, drunk, to understand how our other friend Jez had ruined his shoes. He'd been a few weeks before, also drunk, and he'd blundered into Richard Wilson's 20:50. Do you know it? Big room full of reflective engine oil, with a walkway down the middle. Totally disorientating. Amazing. Jez had flailed around, bewildered, and scooped the stuff on to his feet. Art all over his Nikes. We went to see if we could replicate it. It sounded, like, mind-expanding. Hey, we were students.

It turns out that this was actually a very old-fashioned way to behave. According to the various histories of museums into which I have delved (Giles Waterfield's Palaces of Art is particularly good on this), I was buying into the German Romantic idea of the museum as a temple, in which the visitor “should enjoy a quasi-mystical experience”. Sounds about right. None of the many museum-goers to whom I spoke in the past week was doing anything like this. So, here's theory No1: museum numbers are up, because, quite suddenly, museums aren't much like museums.

I've a few theories to come, but this one makes a lot of sense. It certainly does in Liverpool, which, as 2008's EU Capital of Culture, saw museum and gallery attendances soar by something like 400 per cent.

“We decided to take a real look at the audience,” says Phil Redmond, who was the creative director of Liverpool 2008 and also, just so it clicks, the guy who created Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks. He says: “If you have people who are used to bright and breezy entertainment with TV, you have to make the venues a lot more bright and breezy too. You make them more kid-friendly. Have a kid zone. Education workshops. Follow the dinosaur prints.”

Redmond adds that you need to balance this with the ability for people to sit quietly in museums and reflect, and that some things should be family-friendly and some perhaps not. It's notable, though, that when it comes to attendances, family-friendly is what works. Consider: Tate Liverpool (bright, breezy) up 67 per cent; Merseyside Maritime Museum (likewise) up 69 per cent; The Lady Lever Art Gallery (austere, heavyweight) down 16 per cent.

You could call theory No1 the “dumbing down” theory, only none of the punters I met was dumb. There was Sean Barron, the bar manager from Brighton, who was up to see the Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery and was “particularly pleased to see Picasso's interpretation of the Las Meninas” because he liked the Velásquez original. There was the Carter/House/Downing family from Woking and surrounds, all three generations, who were in the British Museum only because little Abigail, 8, was doing a project on the Egyptians, but knew their stuff about the mummies and had been to St Albans the other week when she was studying the Romans.

Quite un-dumb, in fact, which allows me to sluice neatly into theory No2, as expounded by the likes of Melvyn Bragg, the broadcaster, and Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum. This is what you might call the “dumbing up” theory. In other words, museum numbers are up because people are getting cleverer.

There's a lot to be said for this. This is the Britain where everybody loves watching Stephen Fry on QI, and more people listen to Radio 4 than Radio 1. “There is a huge desire,” MacGregor says, “to understand and to address complexity, and to spend the time that it takes to do so.” For the museum's Babylon exhibition (which ends tomorrow), the average dwell-time was an hour. For Hadrian, it was an hour and 40 minutes. For the current exhibition on Shah Abbas, it is about an hour and a half. It is not true, MacGregor says, that we live in an era of dropping attention spans.

Nicholas Kenyon, formerly the controller of the Proms and now managing director of the Barbican, reckons that there is something very British about the pace of a museum: “There is something in our culture that is free-flowing. People can take as long as they want.” He notices it particularly, he says, coming from a background in the performing arts.

The British Museum, perhaps, sits bang in the centre of competing notions about what a museum should be. There are cafés and a restaurant, and it's certainly family-friendly. But there's a dose of mystery here, too. In Liverpool, Redmond insisted that the whole point of collections is that “they are there to contextualise our past”. We have to view them, he said, “in terms of the stories they can tell. People often think that collections themselves are the point, and don't need to be explained.”

This sits uneasily with more oldfashioned notions of custodianship, which many still feel is the purpose of a museum. Still, he has a point. I thought of his words when I went through to the Duveen Gallery to see the Elgin Marbles and hunted in vain for a sign to told me that, yes, these actually were the Elgin Marbles.

I walked through the V&A on a Monday afternoon, and in some sections - South- East Asia, Japan, European Textiles - I didn't see a soul. This is your proper quasi-mystical museum experience. Take your German Romantic friends, if you have any. They'll love it. To stand alone in half-light on a polished floor, staring up at a 16thcentury tapestry of men with crazy beards, lambs in armour and a soldier shaking the hand of a bear is a bewildering experience. You can feel the ticking in your head. It's not what crowds want. The V&A was down last year by 15 per cent - although perhaps that's because they did so well the year before with the Kylie exhibition.

You might be alone, but you don't worry about getting mugged. The V&A says that it rarely has more than a couple of security incidents a year. The National Gallery is bang on Trafalgar Square, but even they need to kick people out only every couple of months. That brings me to theory No3. Museum numbers are up because museums are safe. “They attract only a certain type of person, let's face it,” says Margaret Child, 79, from Essex, visiting the National with a group of older ladies and then heading off to see Sunset Boulevard: “In any museum, do you ever hear the F-word? You hear it up and down every high street. In the cafeteria, all ages, all denominations, no one swearing.”

I meet Debbie Norton and Sarah O'Connell, both from Haringey, in the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, which is part museum, part playground. They are with their respective two-year-olds, Jessie and Leila. “It's a safe space to play,” Debbie says: “We can have something to eat, they can entertain themselves.” Sarah says that the kids can run off and she can wait a minute or two before having to chase them. “It's also safe as in health-and-safety safe,” she says. In Tate Modern, I was struck by the number of disabled folk in buggies.

Aside from me and my drunk friends, people really do behave themselves in museums. Redmond jokes that this is because there is “more security per square metre than anywhere else on Earth”. He agrees, though, that there is something about museums that people respect. Neil MacGregor , at the British Museum, agrees. “The Great Court has become London's village green,” he says. “It's where you bring the children. It's where you meet a friend. It's the space that belongs to everyone.”

Free entry has a huge amount to do with this. That should probably be Theory 4, the credit-crunch theory. People are going to museums because museums are free. Most of Britain's biggest museums have been free for years, but, as MacGregor puts it, it's the rhetoric of free admission since 2001 that has had an impact, as much as the fact. When the Tory culture spokesman, Hugo Swire, spoke of reintroducing entry charges in 2007 there was national uproar, and a few months later David Cameron sacked him.

When I asked Redmond his best tip for getting people into museums, he snorted and said “create a recession”. Everybody going to a museum approves of free entry, even if (and this is the crucial bit) they are then paying extra to see a special exhibition, such as Picasso at the National (£12.50) or Shah Abbas at the British Museum (£12). Free admission to museums has given the public a sense of ownership over them. This ties into Theory1, and the way that many museums no longer feel like somebody else's country house. They feel like they are ours.

And so to Theory5. They're coming thick and fast now, these theories, but this, I think, is my favourite. People are flocking to museums because museums are the best public space we have. Britain is too secular to value its churches and too divorced from local governance to give a damn about town halls. Schools are not the social hubs they once were. Museums fill a gap.

All the other theories, I reckon, trickle into this one. Museums are as much about activities, these days, as collections. Debates at the British Museum. DJs at the Royal Academy. The Museum of Childhood, as discussed, being used as a playpark. In East London, galleries stay open late every Thursday, as nightlife. The V&A does the same on Fridays. Cafés. Restaurants. Places to go.

The National Wool Museum in Wales had 24,344 visitors last year. That's a bad Saturday morning for the British Museum, but it is 11 per cent up on last year. Ann Whittall, the museum's manager, tells me why. “We've got a very successful family trail,” she says. “The Woolly Trail. It helps families to understand what they are seeing. It's interactive and you get thread at the end. We've a café that sells local produce, and mills. We're 16 miles north of Carmarthen, so in the winter we rely on our local audience. We have a carol concert and a craft fair at Christmas time. We have a knitting club, and nursery groups meet here, too.”

That's almost every theory, in a single tiny package. See how they all work? Only the German Romantics need feel left out.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5901145.ece

六四大和解, Will it happen this year?

「六四和解不應受害者提出」
王丹回應放下對立建議

【明報專訊】今年是「六四事件」20周年紀念，作家戴晴早前表示現在是時候尋求「大和解」，讓中共與民運人士放低對立，但當年的學生領袖王丹形容要求事件受害者提出和解實屬「可笑」：「打傷了人，還要受傷一方提出和解，哪有這種事情？」他說：「我有我的底線——我可以和解，但絕不可能是由我提出來。當下還未見到任何東西，讓我可接受和解。」

去 年於美國哈佛取得博士銜的王丹，今年到英國牛津大學聖安東尼學院作一年的博士後研究。英國時間周五下午，王丹在牛津舉行了一場主題圍繞六四的演講。他表 示，當年的學生運動主要爭取反貪腐，相信透過政治改革尋求民主政體，是達到目的之唯一方法，即使現在回看，他仍然相信當年確是中國展開和平民主演變的契 機，但「六四的崩塌，不單只代表極權的勝利，還有貪腐的勝利」。

中國留學生﹕民主保證得了我的學費？

演講會吸引了近300名 學生和各地學者，擠滿現場座位之餘，有人更要坐在梯級，聽眾一般對中國學生當年表現予以肯定，也有來自內地的學生持不同意見，有年輕的博士生問王丹：「中 國為什麼需要民主？餵飽13億人並不容易，若我選了你，你能保證我的父母有能力支付我來這裏讀書的學費嗎？」個別中國學生隨即報以掌聲，王丹回應說：「人 除了吃飯以外還要有尊嚴，民主就像讓你到超市購物可以有選擇，我認為中國人配得上選擇。」

席上亦討論到近20年經濟上的「中國奇蹟」，成為 中共領導迴避民主改革的藉口，被問到目前更複雜的利益關係會否成為政治改革的阻力，王丹說，內地目前的問題比1989年之時還要複雜，一場金融危機令到千 萬計的民工失去工作，無論在農村或城市都無法維生。他雖然預期未來難以再出現由學生發起的民主運動，但壓力有可能會來自老百姓、農民工甚或是退休軍人，「他們對政府的訴求是具大的，這問題胡溫和中共領導肯定比我更緊張，因為他們比我更掌握問題所在」。

不寄望現領導平反六四

王丹說，無論對現屆領導人或下屆領導人，都不旨望他們會平反六四或推動民主改革，「我們把希望放在趙紫陽、朱鎔基、胡錦濤和溫家寶，但只能換來一次又一次的失望……(中國還未具備民主條件？)你看香港，有穩定和龐大的中產階級，為何2007年還不肯讓他們普選？」他說，現在只對習近平、李克強之後、曾經歷六四的一代抱有一點希望。

對 於另一經歷民運的作家戴晴早前接受訪問時提出仿效南非模式的大和解方案，通過調查真相讓雙方放下對立，王丹認為不可能由受害一方提出，「他們(中共)強， 我們(民運人士與家屬)弱，怎可能要受害的一方先提出和解？」、「我可以接受和解，但不可能由我先提出，亦要有和解的條件，讓流亡人士回國，讓受難者家屬 得到賠償。」他又說，即使現在提出和解，亦不會得到中共實際回應。

對於中國民主改革，王丹一再強調要保持「由下而上」的壓力，他寄望近年在內地冒起的公民社會能夠發揮作用，迫使政府必須變革，呼籲西方社會支持中國民間社會和非政府組織發展。由於香港曾拒絕王丹入境，王丹表示，在牛津完成研究後，計劃返回美國求職。

特約記者 羅永聰 英國牛津報道

閱後感： 有穩定和龐大的中產階級，就是香港2007普選的先決條件？

A bit of Hong Kong's History

A Curious Case in City of Victoria

Watch it if you want to be moved to tears

I cried a bit, don't know if you did.

La Maison en Petits Cubes

Here's some background information

And my brother's reaction to it

How art killed our culture

A nice piece of article that perhaps points out part of the origins of evil and how it has build a strangle hold on our society.

The modern world has screwed itself and art led the way.

But even if we agree or partially agree to his observations, it will take a monumental force to change our perception. Which is way I have faith in Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial... and more Echigo Tsumari Art Triennal.

BBC: Child Drawings of Darfur

Heart wrenching sketches displaying the plight in Darfur, the power of art and its responsibility.


The International Criminal Court is accepting supporting evidence of children's drawings of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur. This sketch by Abdul Maggit depicts a typical scene of destruction.


Rights group Waging Peace collected the drawings from refugees in Chad. Abduljabbar's picture shows someone being thrown into a fire and a soldier who appears to be cutting off a man’s head.


This picture by Mohamat shows another village attack. Next to each civilian who has been shot is the word "Morts", which means dead people in French.


Mohammed's drawing shows Janjaweed militia in two pick-up trucks using machine guns on civilians. He also shows a tank. The Sudanese government has always denied using heavy artillery in Darfur.


Adam, 15, shows shot civilians' bodies being tossed into the river. On the back of the drawing, he wrote: "Look at these pictures carefully, and you will see what happened in Darfur. Thank you."


Ismael, also 15, drew a Sudanese helicopter bombing his village, torching houses and killing civilians and a donkey. He said the armed men on horseback were Janjaweed.


Bakhid was eight years old when he saw his village being attacked and burned by Janjaweed forces on horse back and Sudanese forces in vehicles and tanks.


One young artist named Aisha said: "It is very kind to send us food, but this is Africa and we are used to being hungry. What I ask is that you please take the guns away from the people who are killing us."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7923247.stm

Stokes Croft in Bristol

Stoke Croft is like no other places. It is special, a hotbed of the creativity that abounds Bristol. The relative "poverty" of Stoke Croft meant that its character has remained unique, and has not been swallowed up by the forces of mass media and consumerism.

Here's two paintings I pulled from the items sold there.

...imagine that...
Dims: 100w x 81h
Aerosol Stencil on canvas discarded from Jamaica Street Artist Studios.
Artist: Deborah Weymont

SOLD: £85

I don't think John Lennon saw that coming....

Helicopters over China
Dims: 73w x 45h
Aerosol and Paint over Other Artist's Work
Artist: Kit Merryfield

SOLD: £44

Western army helicopters over Chinese landscape painting.... hmmmm.. I bet they are just doing humanitarian aids.

The Future of Dating

I hope this work to my advantage in the many years to come.



Courtesy from http://eatthewholebuffalo.blogspot.com/

An anime that made me shed a tear or two

La Maison en Petits Cubes

Kato Kunio

2009 Oscar wining short animation

Comments to Hong Kong Town Planning Board (on Former Central Police Station Complex)

I have sent my comments to the Town Planning Board of Hong Kong and they are as follows:

First a big thank you to the team who was involved in this project, not only is this about the project, but also about starting a new chapter (or perhaps, the beginnings of the book) of conservation in Hong Kong.

I think it is essential that with the argument of sustainable development, the essential aesthetic, architectural, historical, engineering fabrics should be kept intact. Because, to me, these are the essence that will make people understand / create new dialogs based on the significance in the past. Future uses of these 'fabrics' must respect and relate to these 'fabrics'. If this is not done appropriately, we are left with the facade of a historical building, but no core value or essence that will tell the story of its past or of Hong Kong's past.

With such concerns in mind, in my opinion, it is essential that the building height of the new building in planning should have a height restriction. The argument for this is that the reason why this new building exists is because of the old existing building.

If we look at this plan as a movie / a song, the new building should be supporting artist to reveal the core value or essence of the main artist as well as the plot of the movie / movement of the song. If the supporting artist performs well, it would mean that he / she has done his / her best to be a supporter.
If he / she takes over the main artist, then he/she is not performing his/her task as a supporting role. This will create a discord and disrupt the harmony of the film / song. And the audience will be left in confusion as to which narrative they should follow.

Here's the link to their website:
http://www.centralandwestern.org/Y.H3.4/index.html

Happiest news from Hong Kong

Hong Kong contemporary art being celebrated in Tsim Sha Tsui Hong Kong Museum of Art!!!

http://hkadc.blogspot.com/

3 days of not showering... which made me think (since I had a lot of water to waste with the 3 days quota)

1) Do they have a Guinness world record for this?

2) When did the notion of 'shower every day' come into popular minds in our modern age, I'm guessing post industrial revolution as cities became crowded, filthy and dirty, there was a demand to lower the potential of germs getting spread around.

3) Have our immune system deteriorated because we are cleaner these days? If yes, does it mean we should not keep our places 100% clean for babies because they need to develop their own immune system against the environment.

4) The New York Times proved my theory on 3) right : )

Do we dream enough?

My family friend's dream was to open an ice cream shop... and she made her dream come true, when's yours?

They were both investment bankers in Wall Street turned Ice Cream shop owner.

Do we dream enough?

http://sweetrepublic.com/press/Phoenix-Magazine-03.09.html

http://www.sweetrepublic.com/

從博物館走上街頭尋找港人身份認同．謝曉陽 (亞洲週刊)

專訪香港歷史博物館館長丁新豹
從博物館走上街頭尋找港人身份認同．謝曉陽


殖民地的歷史，該如何書寫﹖丁新豹打破中國傳統禁忌，導

領遊人開展墓園和義莊之旅，了解香港歷史文化。丁新豹鼓勵學生走出教室、博物館，從街道變化去探索社會變遷。


殖民地的歷史，該如何書寫﹖在英國殖民管治一百五十年下的香港，一個擁有二千年歷史的東漢古墓知名度，不如一幢金光炫耀的百貨商廈。而香港歷史博物館，矗立鬧市中央，卻活像一座老古董，問津者稀。今年是歷史博物館跨進第三十一個年頭，館長丁新豹接受亞洲週刊訪問時談到，為了蓄養香港人對歷史文化的興趣，他要走出博物館，導引港人從街頭巷角去了解自己的歷史。

墓園和義莊，都是華人社會的禁忌，卻也是活的歷史見證。今年五月，丁新豹組織了一趟義莊之旅，導領港人進入具有一百二十年歷史的東華義莊的文化與被封埋世界。去年底，歷史博物館也辦了兩場從墓園追尋歷史，打開了中國人進入墓園的禁忌，也打開了歷史博物館走進香港社會的大道。以下是丁新豹接受亞洲週刊採訪摘要﹕

你帶香港人遊墓園的用意在哪﹖

墓園其實是一個非常有歷史價值的地方，譬如去年十一月我領隊去的、位於跑馬地的「香港墳場」，它的前身就是「殖民地墳場」，是香港島歷史最長久的墳場。閱讀一座座墳碑，就像在閱讀著香港的殖民史。不少香港歷史上顯赫有名的人，包括巨商買辦何東、孫中山的老師何啟，還有置地集團的創辦人等等，都長埋於此。

位於香港西環摩星嶺的「超遠墳場」，則另有特色。那是一個混血兒墳場，一八九八年，當時在香港的混血兒逐漸以香港為家，不完全屬於英裔，也不完全屬於華裔，因此向政府要求蓋一座讓他們死後可以安眠的混血兒墳場，何東的小兒子就葬在這裡。從碑誌中，我們知道，何東痛失這名不到十歲就病故的兒子的傷痛。還有，澳門賭王何鴻燊的爺爺及父親也安葬於此。

你在香港這座所謂的國際金融中心成長，如何跟歷史、文物結緣﹖

我從小學開始，就喜歡看中國的連環圖，而且大部分都是歷史故事，譬如水滸傳、三國演義、隋唐演義、楚漢相爭等等。從那時起，我便對歷史有興趣，後來念大學有更多機會接觸歷史。我認為要培養一個人對歷史有興趣，一定要由小時候開始。

你很主張走出文物、走出博物館，有什麼具體經驗﹖

從十四年前，歷史博物館就開始舉辦「香港歷史文化研究報告」比賽，目標是提升學生對香港歷史文化的興趣，歷史不應該給人死讀書的印象。直到去年，參加這個比賽的中學已經有一百間。每年，我們會先釐定一個研究議題，譬如某一年，同學去研究香港街道的歷史，他們在圖書館或其他地方收集資料和文獻，然後再到現場，與該區的老人家進行口述歷史的資料收集工作。當時有一組同學做的是有關九龍馬頭圍道的歷史，他們逐間店舖去訪問，請當地居民談談那條街道的變化，再透過街道的改變去觀察社會的變化，這都是非常有意思的，因為學生可以走出課堂去接觸歷史。

此外，我們四年前還針對高中生開始舉辦「小小館長培訓班」，由博物館的同事指導他們如何處理文物、認識各種不同的物質、如何做剪栽等等，這對學生往後認識歷史，甚至在社會上工作，都有助益。

走出博物館、推廣文物教育的想法，跟香港特殊的歷史環境有關嗎﹖

香港被英國殖民統治一百五十年，在殖民教育制度下，人們對歷史陌生是可以預料的，再加上，香港是一個地產掛帥的社會，地產商總將土地的價值算盡算透，以致樓房蓋完又拆，拆完又蓋，這對香港人認識歷史沒有好處。在這種相對惡劣的環境下，歷史博物館的生存空間自然被局限，所以我們必須推動文物教育，加強文物與人們的互動，走出博物館。

歷史博物館這三十年走下來，很不容易吧﹖

在香港，歷史博物館的生存的確比藝術館、科學館困難一點，路也走得比較曲折。最初，我們被安排在尖沙咀星光行裡的一角，遊人來逛商場，就將我們當成是娛樂場。後來到了九龍公園，雖然面積大一些，但由於那是舊建築，而且四處是叢林，所以白蟻和昆蟲到處爬。在那個年代，港英政府不是很重視歷史博物館，他們給藝術館的資源比較多。到了九五年，政府才正式拍板給目前這塊地方我們興建博物館，然而，因為將近九七回歸的日子，我們在規劃展覽的時候，又出現了如何詮釋歷史的兩難……直到九八年，我們才正式搬進目前的館址，有正式的展覽場地。

博物館目前有何困難﹖

博物館有兩大特色，就是會花錢和效益不顯著。香港政府每年給我們的預算有六千五百萬（折合約八百三十萬美元），但保護文物需要人力物力，雖然我們已經有一百人，還需要大量義工。這兩年，願意到博物館來當義工的人越來越多，跟我們去遊覽歷史古蹟的人也非常踴躍，這可能跟香港人開始思考身份認同的問題有關。

走過了三十年，正值香港回歸中國大陸初期，歷史博物館有什麼計劃和期待﹖

近年我們有兩個新的趨勢，一是增加了跨地域文物的展覽，譬如今年初就辦了「粵港澳東西文化交流展」，展出十八世紀以來這三個地方有關文化交流的文物。當然，我們也加強展出中國大陸的展品。第二，我們開始針對社會的需要，規劃不同的展覽。以前，博物館都按照自己的編排陳列展品，但現在，我們會適當跟上時代的脈搏。譬如去年是抗日戰爭結束六十週年，我們就展出中日關係，講抗日到今天的歷史演變。

此外，我們正在思考，如何吸引更多大陸旅客。我們知道，這些旅客到香港，除了想逛逛街之外，也很想看看香港的歷史文化。如果他們一抵步，先到博物館來參觀，對他們認識香港很有好處。

你似乎從小就選擇了歷史這條路，那你認為，「歷史」的價值是什麼﹖

首先，我覺得歷史可以使人類聰明，達到溫故知新的效果，可以看古知今。而從更高層次來看，追溯歷史的發展軌跡，人們可以從知過去，而觀未來。譬如今天中東發生的事情，其實不是現在才有的問題，其實歷史上早已存在。了解了歷史的發展軌跡後，對自己看時事和政治觀點，都有所助益。至於對被殖民後的社會來說，認識歷史，更會增加人們的歸宿感，如果香港人對這塊地方認識越多，便會懂去保存它、愛護它。■

Reference:
http://www.yzzk.com/cfm/Content_Archive.cfm?Channel=tt&Path=347291401/20tt1a.cfm

A quote on skyscrapers of our generation

"Designs that are vast only by their dimensions, are always the sign of a common and low imagination. No work of art can be great but as it deceive, to be otherwise is the prerogative of nature only"

-------- Humphry Repton (1752-1818) quoting Edmund Burke

In plain simple English:

Designs that are merely big in scale are a sign of lack of imagination. All artworks that are great are artificial. Only nature is allowed to do artworks that are natural.

That was written in the 18th century, and it refers to British landscape designing, so I guess we have moved ahead of their times and realised that this statement is faulty?
And we should continue to race against each other to build the tallest, highest, most expensive building in the world to prove that we have great engineering capabilities and inventiveness.

While the electronics world are coming out with products that are becoming more compact with more functions and memory; buildings are becoming bigger, taller, grander.
Well, I guess they are the same afterall, they are simply consumer products of our age, with price tags stuck on them to see who becomes the most famous brand as well as help consumers make 2nd hand profit on ebay or in the real estate market.

One of my philosophies in life, that hurts.

"It's alright to make mistakes, just don't lie about them. Life's simpler that way."
------------ anonymous artist wrote in Japanese.

"I guess if we tell the truth, we don't have to remember anything."
------------ reaction to the artist's work by S. Aw

I follow this philosophy and hence I offend and hurt a lot of people.
My apologise.... but it's unlikely I will abandon this philosophy anytime soon.

Can't wait

I can't wait to graduate and get a job.

I can't wait to do something really meaningful in life and get paid for that.

I can't wait to be touched by all the beauties in life and work with them in my future job.

I can't wait to combine different perceptions of what art is all about and present it to whom art is all about. The people.

I have a burst of energy waiting to be released to good use (I hope) and I just can't sit still on my chair thinking about how one can touch another's life through history, art and architecture.

But most of all... I can't wait to be over and done with essays and presentation in the horrible month called March.

I digress too much.

I can't wait for my next digression.

Sudden thought on the difference between English and Chinese language.

A sudden thought came to me while i was clicking through the internet and sauntering in my studies.

I just thought about capital letters in the English language and how Chinese does not have capital letters.
Is there a paper about this difference and what that means to English and Chinese as a language and how people are influenced or not influenced by that?

The beauty of chance reflections that city dwellers perhaps lack there of

'if a man was to take notice of the reflections that came into his mind on a sudden, as he was walking in the fields or sauntering in his study, there might be several of them perhaps as good as his most deliberate thoughts'

-----Alexander Pope, English philosopher

Chip Tsao (陶傑) compares HK students abroad in UK and HK local students

http://hk-magazine.com/feature/vote-your-feet

For me it was very uninspirational, condescending and very generalised.

But perhaps I should learn more how the HK government uses its money on subsidising students to go abroad and how it uses its money to do education reform in HK....

But Mr. Tsao who claims to be The number one scholar in Hong Kong (香港第一才子) should know that not all things are skewed to one side.

1) “patriotic education” - go to any country and tell them that learning one country's national anthem and mandatory hoisting one's national flag is an ill founded idea and see what they say to you.

2) Would the Labour government in UK or the Democrats in US educate their children about the corruption of their own party and reveal all the dark secrets behind the scene?
NO.
Why do we know about that then?
Because they have different ruling parties who know how to play politics to reveal that to the wider public. China has one and only one ruling party, why would it let you dig up its dark secrets?
Would you dig up your own dark secrets Mr. Tsao? Or does paparazzi generally dig it out for you?
So there is nothing wrong with not including “Mao: The Unknown Story” by Jung Chang in their high school education, it's the political, social system of China that is different if you want to be precise.

3) Lan Kwai Fong is crowded with foreign students and they can tell 'a martini from a Babycham' because their studying environment provides them with the skills to do so.

When have you seen a foreigner study in local high schools?
And when have you seen local HK students integrating foreigners into their circle of friends like what Singaporeans do?
It's because UK boosts cross cultural exchange and when you are a kid studying abroad, you try your very best to get to know other cultures so you won't stick out like an odd ball.
The so-called 'government official’s children' (which I am not one of) can tell the difference between one drink from another because they can integrate with other cultures easier than, say foreigners can to HK culture.
The root of all evils is the dominant language called English, which is taking over the world.

Why don't you ask a foreigner whether they can tell one dim sum from another?

4) Modern education basically started as a result of Industrial Revolution, there were too many kids in the filthy dirty streets, and intellectuals saw fit to house them in proper institutions so they can becoming a functioning part of an element in an industrialised society. Now we have come a long way from that and the British have refined their model according to their own needs and wants because they have been the ruler of their country for the past centuries or so.
Hong Kong, being a British colony in the past, obviously created an education that was favourable to the British which meant that the education system would work as a factory to create a cream of society who would want to go to Britain for further education.

But Hong Kong have just took back our autonomy for 11 years and the government is struggling to come into terms with post colonialism and has failed to provided a successful education reform, and a lot of people has lost hope in that reform. It doesn't mean adopting or assimilating Chinese education into our system is not good. Look how prestigious Beijing University and Tsing Wah University is in the world.

So please stop being fearful of being patriotic and be proud of being a Chinese, because whether you like it or not. Hong Kong is going to become directly under Chinese rule in 2047. And the best is not to breed misunderstanding and mistrust between Mainland China and Hong Kong, but to actively engage in cultural exchange that is not only driven by economic forces, but through educational reforms.

If you don't want to be patriot about loving China, then don't.
But at least love Hong Kong and give suggestions on ways of improving local education instead of dreaming about the past. Rather, try and understand the past so you can try and predict the future.

Banned kissing on no kissing zone in front of railway station

A ban on kissing in order to stop the delay of taxis from leaving the train station.

Are you kidding me!?!?

Are politicians stupid!?!?!

'O, I will definitely vote for Mr. Smart Guy. He did many things for the community but mainly I am voting for him because he helped pushed the legislation so we now have a ban on kissing outside Warrington Bank Quay railway station'

I can't even think of a comparison to this magnitude of stupidity..... wait you even have a passion police to monitor the couples?

Virgin Train's statement: At a time of recession, this is some much needed fun and it will not expand to other station.

Sure, I just lost my banking job and has a rent to pay and 2 kids to feed. I want to kiss my partner before I go hunt for a janitor job... oh wait, I can't kiss here... and I have to go to the kissing zone. Oh this is much needed fun and it soooooo brightens my life up.

Oh, I found a comparison. You ever had a romantic night out gone wrong, cause you made all the wrong moves and gave all the wrong signals?

Well, kissing is about romance, kissers aren't smokers, kissers can't have designated zones to make out. It totally kills the romance.

1) Nipples 2) MOMA Ad-Bombs Brooklyn's Top Transit Hub 3) Angel of the South 4) Chinese moral story from Ming Pao

1) Grow up... they are nipples, cows have them, your mum has them.
As if you would turn down a free Picasso if it was given free to your gallery. Not that Christina here has the same energy or artistic quality as Picasso, but find a better excuse to turn down paintings than 'because the nipples might offend viewers.'


2) I have seen ads for museum and gallery visits in public transport systems. But not something like this scale. I bet people from MOMA had more crazier ideas but perhaps was downscaled since the subway is after all a place to facilitate a undisturbed flow of sardines from one place to another.

What I love about it is how
"A few of the works even have audio guides, which can be heard on the stations’ pay phones or downloaded to portable devices."

Congratulations to MOMA efforts. Transport railway systems and government bureaucracies need to have maximum creativity in their space to inspire the public rather than cool, inhuman management risk free space that is clean and boring enough for it to be like airport toilets.

3) A giant horse in Kent is the Angel of the South..... hmmm.... very creative indeed... may I ask whats so special about this sculptural horse?

It's HUGE.... oh... and whatelse?
.... It's HUGE......

I have to say though.. compared to the other competitors, this makes much more sense.. actually the more I thought about this article on "What Does the White Horse Mean?", the more sense it made to me. For me, it is the tie of the Horse to the landscape around it that made the most sense. Afterall this sculptural piece is relating itself with its outdoor surrounding very beautifully.

4) The story of leeching from the wealth of other people and turning into your own.
The difference between Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Richard Li.

The long forgotten Central Police Station of Hong Kong

Remember the heated debates of the Central Police Station and how people argued that the design by Herzog & de Mueron was too big and overshadowed buildings behind it.

After careful research, the Heritage Hong Kong has come up with something, so rather than read the news / listening to politicians debate about it and agree / disagree with the new reporters, why not read the original documents and make your own judgements and give comments?

Do make your comment to Town Planning Board!
Deadline for comments: 27/02/2009

http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb/en/plan_application/Y_H3_4.html

http://www.heritage.gov.hk/en/online/press2009/20090207.htm

http://www.heritage.gov.hk/en/whatsnew/events_08.htm

Summer voluntary work: 1) Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial 2009, 2) Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009, 3) Fundraising efforts:

Dear all,

I will be doing voluntary work in Japan this summer. In the remote
rice farming communities of Echigo Tsumari, Niigata and also in the
sprawling metropolis of the city of Osaka.

1) Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial 2009

Echigo Tsumari (Niigata province, Japan) is a city scattered with rice
fields, dotted with hills and a brush of river running in between. The
art triennial is about using public art to revitalise vast amounts of
land covering six farming municipalities.

The story goes that urbanisation, a lowered demand for pearl rice in
Japan and a declining birth rate has meant that schools continue to
close down and the average age of the population continues to
increase. Its a trend that the entire nation will have to face and, in
many ways, what happens in the villages is a preview of times to come.

300 or so artists, mostly from Japan, but also selected from all over
the globe, will gather in Echigo Tsumari this summer to celebrate it's
4th Triennial by creating artworks addressing themes touching upon
the vice and virtues, friendships and conflicts of our contemporary
world.

I shall be working with a Hong Kong artist, Mr. Kingsley Ng (伍韶勁), who has
been selected by the Echigo Tsumari community to create an artwork
amongst rice paddies and village townhouses.

Please follow the link to see one of Mr. Ng's art piece called metier
a tisser musical (Musical Loom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=HK&hl=zh-TW&v=qXjKmerqHwY

The following are related links:

facebook group:
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 越後妻有大地の芸術祭

Kingsleys Ng's homepage:
http://www.kingsleyng.com/

Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial 2009:
http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/

2) Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009

I shall also be working on an art project for the
city of Osaka under the title 'Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009', an
initiative that aims to bring water back to the city of
Osaka.
Osaka was once known as the Venice of the east due to its rich
waterways. Modern infrastructure has meant reclamation and an
explosion of vehicles on concrete roads instead of water
transport as a way of commuting.

The project aims to stimulate questions about modern urban land use
and explore various themes such as conservation, nature,
city, development, and urban interaction.

The following are related links:

Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009' Touting new city image
http://www.osakacity.org/news/newsItem.aspx?news=370

Kansai in Focus: Waterside with people: for revival of 'aquapolis'
http://www.kippo.or.jp/KansaiWindowHtml/News/2008-e/20081105_News.html


3) Fundraising efforts:

In order to make all these happen, we plan to
have a tour to sponsor the artist, Mr. Kingsley Ng and
his team as well as students who will form a team at Echigo Tsumari
and Osaka.

The tour will be led by Mr. Alexander Hui (許日銓), a trained architect who was
a curator and lecturer from the University of Hong Kong. He also spent
some years as the executive officer of the Hong Kong Arts Centre.
He is currently pursuing a PhD degree and is also actively involved in
many community projects in Hong Kong.

One tour will cover a special preview to Echigo Tsumari to see the artists and volunteers at work.
The other tour will take all to a special visit to the Naoshima,
inland Seto Sea area for a special preview of not only places like
ChiChu and Inujima with the curators but also museums and art sites
under construction by Tadao Ando, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and Li U Fan in
preparation for their opening in 2010.

If you are interested in these projects / tours / donations,
please email to

James Lam (林自立）
juanjaime@gmail.com

or
Alex hui (許日銓)
huialexy@hotmail.com

Warm regards,
James Lam